Soccer Fans Supply Strong Voice in Scottish Independence Debate

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Celtic fans coordinated their statement at a recent match against Dundee United, raising their placards during the 18th minute, a symbolic nod to the date of the vote on independence.CreditCreditRob Casey/Sns Group

By Graham Ruthven

Sept. 11, 2014

GLASGOW — In this city defined by the rivalry between its two biggest soccer clubs — Celtic and Rangers — there were no team colors on display Sunday night as fans filtered into a gloomy pub to watch Scotland play Germany in its first qualifying game for the 2016 European Championship. There is, however, more than soccer to talk about at the moment.

Scotland is wound tight, waiting to uncoil next week, when the country will vote on whether it should be independent from Britain. The debate has generated the kind of tension and engagement usually reserved for soccer rivalries in Scotland, and in fact the country’s stadiums have become key battlegrounds for the yes and no campaigns.

And as is so often the case in Scotland, the rivals Rangers and Celtic, collectively known as the Old Firm, are dominating the outlook. To the surprise of no one, they seem to be, as with most things, on opposite sides.

Traditionally, Rangers is as British as afternoon tea or “Downton Abbey.” The club’s symbol is the Union Jack. It hosts an annual Armed Forces Day. It toasts the British monarch before its first home game each year. A portrait of Queen Elizabeth II even hangs in the dressing room at Ibrox Stadium.

At a league game this month, a section of Rangers fans unfurled a large banner urging their fellow supporters to “Vote No.” Given the team’s history, preservation of the union would appear, at least on the face of it, intertwined with the preservation of Rangers’ identity as a club.

“A lot of fans adopt that identity in a very tribal way,” said Alan Bissett, an editor of the book “Born Under a Union Flag,” whose contributors examine the bond between Rangers and Britain. “At surface level it seems to be the case that the majority of Rangers fans will be voting no. Those fans are using the vote as a way to express and hold on to their identity. They may feel that their identity is under threat if the union falls apart.”

Celtic’s relationship to the independence debate is more complex. Sections of the club’s supporters identify with the Irish Republican movement, making them — in simplified terms — prime independence advocates. But others are skeptical of the Scottish National Party and its leader, Alex Salmond, since the introduction of the Offensive Behavior Act, which has restricted — at least in the view of some Celtic fans — the expression of the club’s Irish heritage.

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Rangers fans made their position on independence known at a league game earlier this month.CreditRob Casey/Sns Group

Yet the yes campaign has taken root among the Celtic fan base. The Radical Independence Campaign, a volunteer-led civilian organization supporting a break with Britain, has even used home games at Celtic Park to draw attention to its cause. At a recent league match against Dundee United, a contingent of about 1,000 Celtic fans held up yes placards in the 18th minute, a symbolic nod to the date of the vote, Sept. 18.

“We wanted to send out a message from Celtic Park, and nothing influences opinion like a football club,” said Tony Kenny, who helped coordinate the R.I.C. campaign at the stadium. “At Celtic you have a lot of people who are anti-establishment and who have never been comfortable with the British identity. For us it’s fertile ground, with a lot of people who are ripe for being pro-independence.”

It is not just Celtic and Rangers being used to amplify the campaigns; last month’s Edinburgh derby between Hearts and Hibernian was also targeted by the R.I.C.

“There is an element in football which will jump on any bandwagon and convert it into what they think it is all about,” said the announcer Archie Macpherson, the voice of Scottish soccer for about 30 years.

While active players have remained largely silent in the debate, on Saturday 16 renowned Scottish soccer figures, including Ally McCoist, Billy McNeill and David Moyes, declared their support for the no campaign by signing a joint statement that called on “every patriotic Scot to help maintain Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom, which has served Scotland so well.”

Even Alex Ferguson, a former Manchester United manager and one of Scotland’s most recognizable sports figures, has made public his allegiance, donating to the Better Together campaign, which is seeking a no vote.

The return of league matches to stadiums across Scotland this weekend will give both sides a final chance to make their pitches. But soccer’s innate capacity for political demonstration has already had an effect.

“It’s about creating an atmosphere, and that’s what is happening at football grounds because there’s already an atmosphere there to latch on to,” Macpherson said. “They’ve used football fans for the vocal power they need.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B10 of the New York edition with the headline: Soccer Fans Supply Strong Voice in Scottish Independence Debate. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe